


The Devil Within

by VicenteValtieri



Series: Flashes [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Construct, F/M, M/M, One-Shot, Pregnancy, Series, Sith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 12:26:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7361485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VicenteValtieri/pseuds/VicenteValtieri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke confronts his haunt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Devil Within

Luke took one final look at the last picture of his children and their mother and pushed the door open.

He found himself in a room that breathed sickness. Something was very wrong here.

At the other end, a long daybed was laid out with thick cushions. The little girl, all of eleven years, stood beside it. Her two brothers were playing beside her ankles, pushing about speeders on clear wheels, sending them about the room with twitches of the Force.

Luke approached, not knowing what would happen.

She looked at him and reached for her brothers. All three children vanished through a hidden door in the walls.

On the daybed, Thrawn laid on his side, facing away. Luke held the lightsaber at the ready as he approached. It was frustrating to be cut off from the Force.

He bent over the still figure, taking note of dry lips and puckered brows.

"I almost wish you would swing that saber." It spoke, raising itself painfully into a seated position, turning to face him. As he moved, he became non-corporeal for a long moment, billowing in black smoke before re-forming. "It wouldn't do much good, but things would be simpler. And I suppose it might kill me, eventually."

"Who are you?"

"I? I am Thrawn. A construct the Emperor built to be his child. Is this a satisfactory answer?"

Luke was silent. "There is so much more, isn't there?"

"I am Grand Admiral Thrawn, the feared leader of the fleet. I am Bastet, a simple prostitute. I am Darth Scintillation, my father's heir. I am Thrawn, mother of Scylla, Coriander, and Noel. I am myself."

"I wondered what their names were."

"You have missed much of their lives, though it isn't your fault." Thrawn sighed and laid back down. "I'm sorry if you think I'm being rude. I'm very weak at the moment. Controlling the house is hard of late. You noticed the dust piling up, of course."

Luke thought to the purple blanket. "Whose is the velvet blanket upstairs?"

"Mine. And after me, it was Scylla's. Your sons have blue velvet." He coughed, a dry sound.

"Of course. Purple is for the firstborn, isn't it?"

"But naturally. She was to inherit her grandfather's throne. I didn't intend to take it." He shrugged. "The best laid plans of mice and men, gang aftly go awry. Curse that Noghri for killing my Valkyrie."

"I did wonder how you would have lived."

Thrawn bared his teeth. "It wasn't easy. I had to flee the body. My father built it for me to inhabit years before the Death Stars destroyed him. It was a singular form, not my preference, but it was easier to rest in it. I don't know if you realize it, but it takes a lot of effort to hold a form nowadays." He sadly laid his head back. "I've been growing weaker and weaker since Yavin 4."

"Is there no way to save you?"

"If I can manage to hold on for another five, six years, I have a clone growing, but at this rate... I probably won't see another season." He sighed deeply. "That was why I had Scylla bring you here."

"Scylla led me?"

"I can't leave the house. At the moment, Palpatine's robes and the home he raised me in are the only things keeping me here, reduced as I am."

"Were you bound to him?"

"All constructs are. He fully intended to live forever, you know. He never suspected that he might be destroyed. Arrogance and pride."

"And there's nothing we can do?"

"Nothing. Not unless you were willing to play with fire." He closed his eyes.

"Why did you want me here? To end you?"

"So that you would know your children lived." Thrawn breathily waved a hand, calling up a storm of charged particles in their images. "Because I cannot give them what they need anymore. And... so that, in the end, I would not be alone."

"Why have you been haunting me all this time?"

"Isn't it obvious? I fell in love." He chuckled, melancholy and sweet. "I know, silly of me, isn't it?"

"Are the Sith allowed romances?"

"My father thought I only wanted your children. It was the only lie I ever told him." Thrawn laid back on his side. 

"I see."

"No, you don't." Thrawn stated matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean, 'play with fire?'"

"I can attach myself to you, partially. Only until that clone is ready. But it's gambling your life, master Jedi. To take something that isn't yours." He looked around the room. "And you wouldn't be able to leave the grounds. I would need you close, always. If you left, I would die at once."

"Would you be able to leave the house?"

"And expose you to ridicule, accusations of collusion, myself to the Noghri's blades? No, I will never leave this home again."

"But our children..."

"Are polite, well-trained, and raised in the best possible manner for young Naboo nobles. They will stay with me until I fail." He rallied, rising almost to his feet and his expression became thunderous. "And I can make life hellish if you try to take them from me."

"No one's going to take them from you." Luke paused. "Might I have time to consider. Perhaps to get to know you better, before I made a decision?"

"Mara Jade calls to you." Thrawn spat bitterly. "Red-headed witch-child."

"I have many duties outside this house."

"Mastering your order. Then go, by all means. If these are so pressing, you will have no time to be here even should you stay."

"I suppose I could set the Academy here..."

But Thrawn's reaction was immediate. "NO! I had to live for eighty years with the vile scent of your order close beside me. No such academy will be built on my father's grounds while I live." He drew himself up. "If all you will do is exhaust me further with prattle, I would ask that you go. I would rather spend my strength teaching Scylla to build holocrons."

Luke stood up. "If I return, will you be here?"

"You will know if I die." Thrawn stood up. "The house will take you out." Suddenly, he phased out completely, vanishing into black mist.

And the room was empty, but for the daybed.


End file.
